Vocation Discernment
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Vocation Office
Western Dominican Province
5890 Birch Court
Oakland, CA 94618-1626
(510)-596-1821
Our Vocations require a great deal of support, from the first moment they begin their novitiate until the last moments of their retirement. Please do conside visiting our donation page and helping form and sustain the priests and brothers who will serve you in the future, serve you now and have served you in the past.
Saints and Blesseds
The Order of Friars Preachers,
The Dominican Order,
has a beautiful history of learning, service and holiness manifested in its saints and blesseds of every age since its foundation by St. Dominic de Guzman. Do enjoy the periodic postings of such stories as are available from various sources, especially our own archives.
Religious Retirement
Our elderly and infirm friars receive the best care we have available to us, as in any family. We rely heavily on the donations of others for our own existence and thus when one of our own becomes incapable of further ministry due to age or infirmity, those same donations help us support the sometimes necessary special care required by such members of our communities.
We prefer to care for our elderly and infirm in our own houses so that the life of a religious community can be a part of a friars life as long as possible. This is also the most economical in many ways. We strive to use donations wisely. But sometimes a care facility is essential. As we, as a Province, do not benefit from the national collection for retired religious, we ask that you assist us in caring for these friars who have prayed, taught, served and ministered for so many years amomg the people of the Western United States and beyond.
Please, in your kindness, consider assisting us in this work of brotherly love.
Many thanks in advance.
Catholicism
It's just the right thing
Fr. Paul Edward Scanlon, OP
I was born in Detroit but raised in a small town in Southern California, the only child of very devout parents. Their faith graced me with a friendship with the Lord Jesus from earliest days. As a high school student I loved the outdoors as well as carpentry and so had a romantic dream of one day being a foreign missionary. Ordained in 1959 I discovered the joy of working with teen-agers in parish ministry. Ten years later I served as provincial in the vibrant ‘70’s when both social life and church life were in great transition. However they were blessed days for the province as we reached a high water mark in vocations at a time when many other groups were experiencing an out-going tide. Our province was able to expand its boundaries and move enthusiastically into new ministries, such as campus ministry.
My dream of being a foreign missionary was partly realized when as provincial I had the great experience of visiting our brothers working in Chiapas, Mexico. After my time as provincial, with great help from a number of other Friars, I worked in Mexicali, Mexico for nine years, where I learned so much from the humble poor and acquired a heightened interest in social justice issues. God works in mysterious but beautiful ways, for as I write these lines I am ministering to the Hispanic people up in Alaska. Nearing my 50th anniversary of ordination I give thanks to the Lord for his faithful friendship despite my own frailties, the joy of preaching, and the gift of having ministered with marvelous Dominican Brothers and Sisters.
"Alaska, Latino Style" (no link), America: The National Catholic Weekly, (October 17, 2005) Vol. 193 No. 11.
"A Two-sided Coin," Missionaries In Action, (October 2005) Vol. 41, No. 10.
"God's Work of Art,"Missionaries In Action, (July 2004) Vol. 41, No. 7.
"Not a Sparrow Falls," Missionaries In Action, (June 2003) Vol. 30, No. 6.
Fr. Paul Scanlon’s article "Not a Sparrow Falls," published in the November 2002 issue of Liguorian, placed second in the Best Essay-General Interest Category of the 2003 Press Awards presented by the Catholic Press Association, August 12, 2003
Kudos to Paul Scanlon! His article, "Not a Sparrow Falls" will be published in September 2004 by Loyola Press in the first Anthology of Best Catholic Literature, December 2, 2003
Congratulations to Paul Scanlon whose article originally printed in Liguouri Magazine, and entitled "Not a Sparrow Falls", is included in the book, The Best Catholic Writing of 2004, edited by Brian Doyle. Loyola Books, November 15, 2004